Log #4

Refugees' policy

Recently I see some news about refugees policy again. Last time when I was writing my Log2 I said that I change my mind of supporting refugees' accommodation. This time after I read that news I hold more firmly to my situation. There are three elements that the report provide: job opportunity, humanity, and culture differences. I am gonna give my opinion to these three aspects. 

First of all, job opportunity, will be a big problem if we accommodate refugees from other countries. Everyone knows that as population gets bigger, job opportunity will decline. With fewer jobs provided, the competition becomes more intense, and high job competition will lead to unemployment. Next, robotic automation are progressing, and countries able to take refugees are usually those developed or developing nations, which means they have high technology. After refugees get into those countries their jobs will mainly be laboring works. As a result, citizens, refugees and robots should compete with each other, and that must not be a good news. What’s more, Gartner Technology Research Company predicts that in the following ten years job opportunity will decline 30 percents because of robotic automation. The economist in Cambridge University also says that about half of jobs will be taken over by robots in the following 20 years and automation will widen the gap between the poor and the wealthy. Furthermore, when refugees flee to other countries, their hometown will lose a great deal of labor force and cause the development to stop. Thus the gap between poor countries and wealthy countries will also become bigger. Last, as labor population increases, the welfare should be updated and this requires more tax to citizens.

Second, people support refugees’ accommodation due to humanity. Yes, we human should of course bear kindness and humanity in mind. Conscience tells us that people with more power should help people in need. However, when benefits and conscience fight with each other, it will be very hard to keep the latter. There is a convention called Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees which is used to ensure refugees’ right. Sarcastically, some countries that have signed this convention should refuse to take refugees. For example, according to statistics, 55% of French and 94% of Hungarian do not agree to accommodate refugees. These countries’ names are listed in the convention but they don’t put their words into practice. Is it possible to guarantee refugees’ equality? What’s worse, people are calling on humanity but they don’t really know how much will it cost a country, including money, people’s safety, right and so forth. German also stated that they need to pay at least 3.7 billion dollars per year to support their refugees’ policy.

Third, since refugees are coming from different countries, cultures must differ a lot. When religion, values and other culture-related aspects happen, things are going to be very complex. According to psychological researchers, Islamic refugees are the group more likely to attack others because of their religious values.  Furthermore, Muslim religion’s awareness also allows believers to deal with things in the ways they call “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. That is why U.S new president Donald Trump especially wants to ban Islamic refugees. Culture differences will also have an impact on daily life such as the way to say hello to others, body signs, driving cars, and foods. 

Due to these three reasons: job opportunity, humanity, and culture differences, I think it’s not appropriate to take refugees from other countries. If there are no any countries in this world can absolutely guarantee refugees’ equality right then, no one should give promises, because it will only make refugees suffer. However, though it’s still not the mature time to take refugees we still have alternative ways. We can donate money to them or send some volunteers to help them build their houses, teach them knowledge or give them food. There are lots of choices, but I don’t agree the accommodation one. After all, no one want to see something go into a vicious cycle.